The Lost Chapter
by Elessar-117
Summary: Prequel to Halo Infinite. Location - Delta Halo.
1. Prologue: Into the dark

The marine tightened his grip on the assault rifle. He was staring right at a corpse. He slowly breathed as if that might awaken the beast that lay still in front of him. It took his entire clip to take the beast down. If it wasn't for the distraction provided by the crashing pelican he wouldn't have caught the brute distracted. He still had 6 bullets left in his clip. For good measures he sprayed the corpse with those remaining bullets. Once he was absolutely sure that the beast was dead he moved towards the crashed Pelican which was 100 meters from his current position. It was highly unlikely for any survivors were present in that ball of fire but at least he can try to resupply himself in this doomed mission.

The marine slowly moved through the jungle with his empty rifle pointing in the general direction of the fallen pelican. Even though that rifle was of no use to him except for the flashlight below the muzzle, it gave a sense of confidence in this hopeless situation. After advancing through the thickness of the jungle he reached the crash site, which has caused a huge demolition of trees nearby and a thick smoke covered the pelican as fire erupted from inside. There was no possibility of entering that ship. However, various supplies were scattered around the crash site. These were secured inside the standard UNSC's water, fire and even bullet proof cases.

He dragged a couple of cases away from the fire and dropped them near the edge of the clearing. As he went back for more he heard a faint rustle on the nearby tree lines. At that moment he knew he was being watched.

'Idiot' he cursed himself. He knew he got greedy. He should have refilled when he had the chance.

It was too late to grab the bullet magazines for his MA5D. Right now the only option he had was to use his combat knife which was tucked to his lateral thigh pocket. He slowly dropped his rifle and unsheathed his knife and stood in a combat stance expecting someone or something to jump on him out of those shadows. The gentle breeze was swaying trees, rustling the leaves. But he knew in that darkness a pair of eyes was watching him. He stood there silently with a pounding heart and sweaty grip over his knife. Seconds passed by but still no sign of any attack.

After few minutes, which felt like an hour, that sensation of being watched passed away. It felt like a dark veil was removed. He relaxed a bit but immediately ran to the nearby crate and pried it open. To his surprise there was a radio inside along with a SRS99 sniper rifle. He took them both. The next crater had a M20 SMG with multiple clips. He took them all and stuffed the extra clips on his ammo pouches found around his hip and legs. He looked around for a few more times and was not able to find any more crates therefore he dropped his empty MA5D and ran into the jungle once more.

The hunt was on, but he wasn't sure whether he was the hunter or being hunted. Heavy price was paid today and he had to make sure the due was paid.


	2. Chapter one: Red army of death

Chapter 1

Location: unknown sector, Delta Halo

Time: 0600

Sweat dripped from his forehead, but Bryan didn't care. He kept his eye glued to the sniper scope. He couldn't believe what he was looking at; Tens and thousands of, what looked like a red army of death has descended upon them. This covenant was different from any he has seen before. The warriors were wearing an impressive custom red armor which vaguely represented the Covenant' s counterparts. And every group was lead by a hulking Brute. The marines already heard rumors spreading around that this faction was calling themselves the 'Banished' and it was a splinter faction from the original Covenant army. As far as Bryan could tell this group was much worse than the Covenant. Somehow they lacked the 'principle' the original group had. They were more brutal and cunning in tactics.

"This is Bravo 153, anyone come in," Bryan radioed in. No response for few seconds. He tried again. This recon mission was not going well, Bryan thought.

"Come in Bravo; what is the status?" A female voice echoed back from the radio.

"Not good. Any word from the Charlie team?" Bryan replied.

"Lost all contact with Charlie six hours back," the female voice replied. "What do you mean not good?"

"The entire armada is here. The passage is blocked. It looks like they are protecting the structure," Bryan replied as he continued to assess the situation through his sniper scope.

There was silence for a few minutes from the other side then the female replied back, "We are going to assume Charlie didn't make it and carry on with plan B. Get your ass back here asap."

"What plan B? There is no plan in place for this mess!" Bryan said with anger creeping up his tone. "This mission was dead the moment it started. We lost our ship, our men…" Bryan paused as he pondered over the events that took place the moment they exited the slipspace right outside this Halo. But his train of thoughts were interrupted as the radio answered back.

"We stick to the mission objective. No matter what the cost is. Until the last man on this Ring dies the mission continues," radio turned off.

'This Ring!' Bryan muttered to himself as he looked up from his prone position and saw the structure curve right up from the horizon and go beyond the reach of his sight. 'This ring will be the death of all.'

He slowly got up from the prone position and descended down from a small hill, which he made his home for the past two hours. He got down as his boots slid over the gravel and caused a small avalanche of pebbles and sand which slid down along with him. Once he reached the foot of the hill he disappeared into the woods along with his sniper and his trusty M6H.

'Plan B, my ass. We are going to fucking die, every one of us,' Bryan thought as he sprinted back to his fall back area.


	3. Chapter two: Plan B

Chapter 2

Location: Unknown sector, Delta Halo

Time: 0640

When Bryan entered their temporary HQ which was a glorified tent, big enough for an AI pedestal, few large crates (stacked up on the corner) and marine bunk beds. The lady over the radio and three other marines were standing around the pedestal and were listening to the AI.

"That would be unwise," AI called Max, which took the form of a young girl, early teens probably Bryan thought. Max was glowing in golden color, illuminating the entire tent with an orange glow.

"What other choice do we have?" Said the frustrated Sergeant Lu Brooks. She was a formidable soldier and a strong headed leader. Sometimes she can be really stubborn. And she was being one right now.

The team stopped the conversation for a second to look up at Bryan, who entered the tent, placed his weapons on top of one of the crates and joined them near the pedestal.

"What is going on? Are we still sticking to our Plan B?" Bryan enquired.

Max answered, "Sergeant Lu wants to penetrate the structure from an aerial route and I," she shifted her glance towards Lu and continued, "was advising against it."

Lu was seemed unconcerned about the AI's comment as she was looking at Bryan wondering whether he was also going to take the AI's side.

"Sarge, they will see us miles away. And they have more AA vehicles than I can possibly count," Bryan said with slightly irritated tone.

"Not if we take this route," Lu pointed at a hologram map that was floating next to Max. "I know it is a fortress but every building has it's blind spot. The Banished are predominantly around the entrance. But this forerunner structure sits in the heart of a mountain. So all the hills surrounding structures can be used as a cover if we can land our pelican here." Lu concluded by marking 'X' on the hologram map.

The other three marines, Mark, Tan and Rebecca, were silent and contemplating the plan in their minds. Even if they had anything to say, for some reasons they held onto silence. But all three were looking at Bryan as if what he was going to say was vital to their decision.

Bryan thought for a second, running Lu's scenario over and over in his mind. Tan was a great pilot but in order to get to the point Lu marked needs a very stealthy approach. "It might work."

Max threw her hands up in disbelief but was silenced by Lu's glance. "I'm glad you are on board," Lu said. "Tan prep the pelican, Rebecca and Mark load the pelican with weapons and the 'Package'. Bryan i have one more recon for you before we take off."

With the look Bryan gave Lu knew he was not going to like what she was about to order. However, it has to be done if this mission was going to succeed in any possible way.


End file.
